Consumer Cyclical Stocks, Including Whirlpool, Making Big Moves on November 20, 2012

It's been a quiet morning for the market. The Nasdaq remains relatively unchanged; the S&P 500 has been relatively flat; and the Dow has remained steady. The consumer cyclical sector is a category of stocks that relies heavily on the business cycle and economic conditions. Consumer cyclicals include industries such as automotive, housing, entertainment and retail. The category can be further divided into durable and non-durable sections. Durable cyclicals include physical goods such as hardware or vehicles, while non-durables represent items like movies or hotel services. The performance of consumer cyclicals is highly related to the state of the economy. They represent goods and services that are not considered necessities, but luxurious purchases. During contractions or recessions, people have less disposable income to spend on consumer cyclicals. When the economy is expanding or booming, the sales of these goods rise as retail and leisure spending increase.

While the market overall has shown little change, the Consumer Cyclical sector (XLY) is up 0.6% and its current biggest movers are:

Company	Market Cap	Percentage Change
Sturm, Ruger (NYSE:RGR)	$935.6 million	+7%
Deckers (Nasdaq:DECK)	$1.18 billion	+3.9%
G-III Apparel (Nasdaq:GIII)	$716.9 million	+3.4%
Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK)	$2.61 billion	+3.1%
Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR)	$7.64 billion	+2.6%
Allison Transmission Holdings (NYSE:ALSN)	$3.81 billion	-2.3%
Mohawk Industries (NYSE:MHK)	$5.75 billion	+1.8%

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Sturm, Ruger (NYSE:RGR) is up 7% to reach a current price of $52.24 per share. The company is currently trading a volume of 405,058 shares.

Deckers (Nasdaq:DECK) has risen 3.9% and is currently trading at $34.91 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 1.4 million shares, 0.8 times the average daily volume.

G-III Apparel (Nasdaq:GIII) is up 3.4% to reach a current price of $36.88 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 18,990 shares. This is a sign that there will be less trading activity than there was yesterday.

Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) is currently trading at $29.40 per share, a 3.1% increase. The company's volume is currently 216,770 shares for the day, 0.4 times its average over the past three months.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) is at $100.69 per share after an increase of 2.6%. This morning, the company is trading a volume of 358,554 shares.

At $20.37, Allison Transmission Holdings (NYSE:ALSN) has slipped 2.3%. So far today, the company's volume is 151,500 shares, 0.4 times the average daily volume.

Mohawk Industries (NYSE:MHK) has risen 1.8% to hit a current price of $84.76 per share. So far today, 144,419 shares of the company's stock have changed hands. This is on pace to reach yesterday's trading volume of 294,725 shares.

The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. Daily stock performance should be weighed against historical performance and put in context of the market overall. Keep in mind that all these ratios should be compared against historical numbers and industry information in order to get a more complete picture.